


Usurp The Throne

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: Gen, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Another horror AU type fic, this time inspired by my love of the band Ghost.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Kudos: 2





	Usurp The Throne

**Author's Note:**

> The song in question that inspired this one can be listened to right here:   
> https://open.spotify.com/track/4yrxgaL6zAsxkeMCwCtORS

“That’s a goddamn zombie,” Snafu stuttered, and dashed away from the window, his eyes wide. 

“Very funny,” Eugene replied as he flipped to the next page in his book. “It isn’t even Halloween, but nice try. You aren’t gonna get me this time though. Not like last time with the vampires.” 

“That was funny though,” Snafu chuckled. “Poor thing, thinkin’ we had vampire neighbors.”

“After they party all night, every night, they look like ‘em. Still wish I could convince them to sleep for a night then come over for brunch,” Eugene sighed. “They seem like nice people, but they keep turnin’ me down.” 

“Maybe this gal will wanna come in for a nightcap,” Snafu said, slowly approaching the window again, as if something would come bursting through it. 

“You’re still tryin’ this, really? Okay, show me this spooky zombie,” Eugene set down his book on the coffee table, pulled himself from the comfort of the couch, and walked to the window. 

She was…rotting. There was no nice way to put it, no bush to beat around because the whole garden was already burned down. She dripped with the moss of the swamps from the outside of town, her bone exposed on various limbs, bits of muscle and gristle still hanging to some. And she was headed towards their door. 

“Jesus Christ,” Eugene backed away from the window, and searched for his Bible on the nearby bookshelf. “Is the door locked? Make sure it’s locked, and we can push the couch in front of-Snafu!” 

Snafu was at the door, and had opened it, staring at the woman as she stepped in front of him. 

“May I come inside? It’s so dreadfully cold tonight…” 

“It is August, and I have sweated through two shirts today,” Eugene said briskly, gently moving Snafu aside from the door. “But that’s what you say no matter what time of year it is, don’t you?” 

The woman’s eyes were somehow intact, though cloudy enough that he wondered how she could even see to walk around. “What year is it?” 

“1947,” Snafu piped up from behind him. “What year was it when you died?” 

“Merriell!” Eugene scolded. “Please don’t encourage this!” 

“She’s a real, live zombie! You tellin’ me we really aren’t gonna let her in and ask some questions?” 

Eugene sighed in desperation and frustration. “No, I don’t really want a dead woman in our house. Why on earth do you?” 

The woman’s sniffling caught his attention, and his glare fell. 

“I…how awful do I look?” she asked. “It was 1760…I was waiting for my sweetheart near her work and…” 

She broke out into gasping sobs, despite there apparently being no fluid left in her to create tears. 

“Okay, come in, come in. Not gonna leave a crying woman in the street, even if you are dead,” Eugene said, moving aside to let her in. 

“Do you remember what happened? Who killed you?” Snafu’s eyes were wide, with curiosity now instead of fear. 

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it. Please…” 

“I’m sorry. It’s just…I mean…well, not often we have a guest like you,” Snafu said. 

“Or guests period,” Eugene remarked, thinking of the neighbors. 

“I…where do I go? What do I do? Why am I awake again?” the woman was suddenly encased in a fear of her own, and reached out to grab Snafu’s hand. “What curse is this?” 

Snafu stared at her hand on his, the bone of her fingers visible in her viscera that should have been so much more decayed than it was, and Eugene caught his eye to try and calm him. 

“Look. I…this is is far out of my range of what I know that I can’t even begin to explain it,” he said as he motioned for all of them to sit on the couch, though he feared for cleaning the couch later. “But maybe we can help. Somehow. I’m not really sure how…” 

“I just wish I knew why,” she sighed. “I mean…I remember some things after.” 

“Like what?” Snafu asked, a look of horror on his face. 

“The alligators. I never feared them much in life, but they were hungry. I don’t blame them for what they did,” she said, and with growing terror Eugene noted the scrape and bite marks on some of her exposed bone. 

“Could you feel it?” Snafu looked like he had thousands of questions behind his eyes, spinning in his head, but he seemed to be holding back for the woman’s sake. 

She nodded. “It wasn’t exactly painful just…sensation. But I fell back asleep then…or died again, however you want to put it. I mean, I must have been dead already. I must be now.” 

“Y’know,” Snafu said. “The city has a bit of a reputation now. For some spookiness. If you don’t…fall back asleep, maybe you could capitalize on that.” 

“How is she gonna do that?” Eugene asked. “Move in down the street and make herself a roadside attraction? That’s no way to live…er, or not live.” 

“Nah, nah. The swamps. How cool and creepy would it be, for there to be a myth of a Zombie Queen, haunting the swamp. Reigning over it all. If you wanna pass through, you better look out for her,” Snafu grinned, and gently took her hand in his. “You could do it, I bet.” 

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said softly. “I just want…I don’t know. To be somewhere safe. Your face when you saw me…I must look horrible. I can’t stay near town, or I’ll scare everyone.” 

“Exactly! You get your peace in the swamp, maybe take over one of the abandoned cabins out that way. Make an appearance every now and again to creep people out, and they’ll fear you but leave you be cause they know if they bug you, maybe somethin’ bad’ll happen. But nothin’ bad has to happen; we’ll just start the rumors that somethin’ would. We could do that, right, Eugene?” 

It wasn’t a bad idea. He felt for her, even as some of her flesh fell off of her onto the floor. She wasn’t the malevolent creature come to attack them like he’d thought. She was hurt and scared and lonely, and it seemed hadn’t even known really that she was dead until now. She deserved peace, if she was to deal with having been brought back to something near life by some unknown force. 

“I think we could do that. We travel out to the swamps on occasion, and I think we could report back a haunted cabin everyone should avoid for their own safety, and the sighting of a powerful and terrifying Zombie Queen, who commands the creatures of the swamp and has defeated death itself,” he replied. 

If she could have blushed, he figured she would have been, her eyelash-free lids fluttering softly as she giggled. “That’s a lot. But I like it. I just want to be left alone. Maybe get to fall back asleep again, and hopefully never wake up like this.” 

They drove her out of town towards the nearest swamp, after making a stop at the home of one of the queens they knew who had dresses that were being rotated out of their closet. 

The woman looked queenly now, in a thick black velvet gown, covered in sequins. It clung just closely enough to show off the shape of her exposed rib-cage, and she smiled as they traveled. 

At the edge of the swamp, they got out with her, looking out into the mossy waters. 

“You ready, Zombie Queen?” Snafu asked. 

Again, Eugene could envision the blush that would have colored her face. “I think so. I…you didn’t have to help me. You could have more easily hurt me and dumped me somewhere else. And you’d be justified, given how strange this all is…” 

“We’ve dealt with weird things before. This won’t be the last thing, I’m sure,” Eugene smiled. “I do have to ask though, before you go: what’s your name? We can’t just call you Zombie Queen to everyone.” 

“Clara,” she replied. “But I don’t know if that’s a real queenly name. My sweetheart, now she had the queenly name. She was a queen, to me.” 

His heart dropped in sorrow. “What was her name?” 

“Delphine. Do you think you could use that instead? I think it sounds better…and then whenever anyone is talking about me, it’ll be sort of like they’re talking about both of us,” she said. 

“Zombie Queen Delphine,” Snafu smiled, but Eugene could see the tears at the corners of his eyes. “We’ll start spreadin’ word as soon as we get back to town.” 

“Thank you,” she smiled gently, and turned to the water. As she walked into it, it was as if the animals in the water somehow knew, and respected her new title. The alligators in the water all popped up around her, not attacking her, but watching, creating a sort of aisle for her to walk down as she drifted towards the other shore, far away, where one of the abandoned homes they had found in trips previous sat. 

They held hands on the ride home, both of them asking the same question in their heads. If it was them in Clara (or rather, Delphine’s) situation, would they be strong enough to deal with living without each other? 

He wanted to think yes, but he knew that he couldn’t truly know for sure if it wouldn’t drive him mad. To be stuck somewhere between life and death, hundreds of years later, with Snafu dead and gone. He admired her strength and ability to tackle her new life, or whatever you would call what she had now. 

For now, he relished the feeling of Snafu’s hand in his, and focused on appearing as scared as possible for when they got back into town. They’d really have to sell it, and he was prepared to make sure everyone they met believed in the Zombie Queen Delphine, ruler of the swamp.


End file.
